Building-block.



H. R. STRAIGHT.

BUILDING BLOCK. v APPLICATION FILED ocT. 1, I9I2.

Patented July 18, 1916.

nnrrnn snares ra'rnnr QO'BFFEQE.

HALVER R. STRAIGHT, 0F ADEL, IOWA.

BUILDING-BLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 18,1916.

Application filed. October 7, 1912. Serial No. 724,448.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HALVER R, STRAIGHT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Adel, in the county of Dallas and State of Iowa, have madecertain Improvements in Building-Blocks, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to provide a building block especiallyadapted to'be constructed of vitrified clay, and especially designed foruse in the construction of the walls of circular buildings such assilos, and to provide a building block of this class that may bemanufactured by the use of ordinary tile making machinery provided witha die of suitable shape.

V of the undermost More specifically it is my object to provide abuilding block of this class in which a binding wire or rod may bereadily and easily placed in position, and there temporarily held whilethe mortar isbeing applied, and .after the mortar is applied and thebuilding block placed in position on the top of it, the exposed portionof the mortar will be relatively small and yet the thickness of thelayer of mortar surrounding the binding rod or wire will be relativelygreat, thus providing a layer of mortar that, from the center of thelayer to the inner face of the wall will be wedge-shaped so that whenstrains are applied to the wall outwardly, the wire or red cannot out orshear through the mortar but would have to first crush the wedge-shapedportion of mortar before the wall could spread or incline outwardly,

thus obtaining a considerable advantage in regard to the strength of thewall on account fact that the crushing strength of mortar or cement ismany times greater than its strength is opposed to cutting or shearingstrains such as would be applied to the mortar by the wire or rod whenpressure is applied outwardly to the wall.

A further object is to provide a blockof this kind that can be readilyand easily handled, and that will readily stand in an uprightpositionwhen placed on a hor1zon tal support with either of its narrow edgesblocks.

'ward the side of the block.

for convenience in handling the My invention consists in theconstruction of my improved buildingblock whereby the ob ectscontemplated are attained, as herelnafter more fully set'forth, pointedout in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 shows ,a vertical, transverse, sec- 'tional view through twobuilding blocks embodying my invention and laid together with a layer ofmortar between them as in use, and Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of aportion of a circular wall constructed of my improved building blocks.

Referring to the accompanying drawings I have used the reference numeral10 to indicate the side walls of the building block and 11, thehorizontal, transverse partition. These parts are plain and straight andare of ordinary construction. The top member of my improved buildingblock comprises a "body portion 12 which is curved downwardly at itscentral portion. The top surface of the part 12 is inclined downwardlyand inwardly at 13 toward the longitudinal center and at a point spacedlaterally from the longitudinal center is a vertical. shoulder 14, thecentral portions 15 between the vertical shoulders 14 being straight.

The lower part of my improved building block comprises a body portion 16which is straight and arranged at right anglesflto the side members 10and this lower .edge has its side portions inclined inwardly toward thelongitudinal center of the block and slightly downwardly at 17 theincline of the ing'wire or rod of the kind ordinarily employed instructures of this kind, and 21 indicates the mortar or cement placedbetween two adjacent rows of building blocks.

In practical use, my improved building blocks are laid to form a wall inthe manner shown in the accompanying drawings. After the first layer isplaced in position, and assuming that the structure is a circularbuilding such as a silo, the operator lays a binding wire or rod on topof the circular layer of building blocks. In this connection, it is tobe understood that the kind of binding wire or rod usually employed forstructures of this kind is made of relatively soft metal which can becomparatively easily bent. Frequently in handling and applying thesebinding wires or rods, the material becomesbent or kinked in such amanner that it is difiicult and impracticable to again make it perfectlystraight. Hence, the binding wire or rod will not at all points aroundthe circumference of the wall lie fiat against the straight portion 15,as shown in Fig. 1, but there must be a space between two adjacentbuilding blocks of, say, for instance, an inch in which this wire or rodis placed, although the wire or rod of itself may be less than onequarter of an inch in thickness.

Obviously, if the two adjacent building blocks had flat adjacentsurfaces, the layer of mortar would have to be substantially an inchthick, in order to provide for the kinks or bends in the wire or rodjust described.

It has been found undesirable to have a layer of mortar or cement ofapproximately an inch in thickness because of the large surfaces ofcement or mortar exposed to the weather which is greatly cut away by theaction of the elements. By my improved construction, there is ample roomleft to accommodate such bends or kinks in the bind ing wires or rods,and at the same time, after the wall is laid, the part of the cement ormortar exposed to the weather is relatively small.

Another very material advantage in my improved construction is that theportion of mortar or cement between the wire or rod and the innersurface of the wall is wedgeshaped or tapered. When a heavy pressure isapplied to the inner surface of the wall at one point, there is, ofcourse, a tendency for the wire to pull the cement or mortar frombetween the layers of blocks. By having this portion of the cement ormortar made wedge-shaped with annular ribs, instead of the wire pullingthe cement or mortar from between the layers of blocks, it must crushthis wedge-shaped portion, and inasmuch as the strength of cement ormortar is much greater in resisting crushing strains than it is inresisting adhesion or shearing strains, the strength of the wall isthereby greatly increased in comparison with a wall built up with layersof cement or mortar of substantially uniform thickness throughout.

Another advantageous feature is by having the square shoulders 14 and18, the wedge-shaped layer of mortar is firmly held in position eventhough it should become broken loose from both of the adjacent buildingblocks. I am aware that heretofore building blocks of this class havebeen provided with longitudinal grooves on their adjacent surfaces, andI do not desire to be understood as claiming broadly the idea ofproviding such grooves.

Another advantageous feature of my invention is that by having theadjacent edges of the building blocks tapered or inclined in the mannershown, the blocks will have a tendency to center themselves as apressure is applied to them when laid in position,

thus making it comparatively easy, for the operator to lay up a wallwith the sides of the blocks perfectly in a line with each other.

It is obvious that substantially all of the advantages of my inventioncan be obtained by placing the blocks in positions inverted relative tothe positions illustrated in the drawings, and I therefore do not desireto be understood as limiting my invention to the use of the blocks inthe manner illustrated in the drawings.

I claim as my invention:

1. An improved building block having on its top surface a central,longitudinal groove, upright shoulders at the sides of the groove andinclined surfaces extending from the said shoulders outwardly andupwardly to the sides of the building block, having on its under surfacea central, longitudinal groove with downwardly extended shoulders at thesides thereof and with inclined surfaces from said shoulders to thesides of the block extended outwardly and upwardly, said inclinedsurfaces being at such relative angles that when two adjacent similarblocks are placed together, one above the other, there will be betweenthem a space to receive mortar, which space will be thickest at itscentral portion and tapered toward both sides for the purposes stated.

2. An improved article of manufacture comprising a building block ofvitrified clay, comprlsing two upright side walls, a central horizontalpartition, a top member having a longitudinal groove at its center,upright shoulders at the sides of the longitudinal groove and inclinedsurfaces extending from said shoulders to the sides of the buildingblock and being inclined upwardly and outwardly, the bottom member beingprovided on its under surface with a central, longitudinal groove withdownwardly extended shoulders at its sides and with inclined portionsextending from said shoulders to the sides of the block and inclinedupwardly and outwardly, the latter inclination being arranged closer toa line at right angles to the sides of the block than the inclination ofthe corresponding surfaces at the top of the block, for the purposesstated.

3. An improved building block, having longitudinal openings through itand one of its longitudinal edges concaved and the other oonvexed, andsaid edges being pro- 10 vided with a central longitudinal groove havingshoulders parallel With the longitudinal sides of said block, theconcaved edge being of less curvature than the convexed edge.

Des Moines Iowa, Sept. 27, 1912.

HALVER R. STRAIGHT.

VVitnessesi E. W. DINGWELL, WV. E. SNYDER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C.

